in article , DarkMatter at
wrote on 1/3/04 2:38 PM:

On Sat, 03 Jan 2004 21:09:42 GMT, "luminos" Gave us:


This is true, and is definately not permitted by any interpretation of the
DMCA. However, some interpretations of copyright law indicate that
copying tapes for time shifting purposes should be allowed (see
www.eff.org). You are supposed to destroy the copy after viewing the
time-shifted copy...as if anyone would do that.

There is NO such thing as a valid, legal time shifted copy of a
rented film.

If a light bulb were shown into one of your ears, it would show your
skull cavity to be luminous, because the damned thing is HOLLOW.

I love the way people here are stating not only what they think the law is,
but what the law *will be* without any references whatsoever.

Unless you can cite a precedent for any of this, the fact of the matter is
that much of this is untested in the courts.

In regards to time-shifting a copy of a rented VHS tape, I'd really like to
know under what basis this would be considered illegal. Specifically where
do you draw the line under what constitutes time-shifting.

The bottom line is that the core of copyright law is to protect the artists
and producers from fair income for their work. If someone rents a video,
copies it, returns it, and then only watches the copy once before erasing
it, how could you possibly prove any loss of income to the
artists/producers?

Renting it and keeping a copy is a totally different story.